On Feb. 22, Archbishop Gomez celebrated the closing Mass of the archdiocese’s 70th annual Religious Education Congress. The following is adapted from his homily.
In the message that he sent to this Congress, our Pope Leo XIV encouraged us to keep going deeper in our personal relationship with Jesus. And this is a good word for us to hear as we enter into this holy season of Lent.
Our Sunday Scripture readings during Lent take us through the whole range of salvation history, from the garden of Eden to the garden of Easter and the empty tomb.
What we just heard today is the “origin story” for the human race. But it is also the story of your life and mine: the story of who we are, where we come from, and who we are called to be.
And we heard one of our most beautiful teachings: “The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.”
Creation is a love story, the story of the love in the heart of the Holy Trinity, which overflows in the creation of the moon, the stars, the sun, all the animals and oceans, the rivers and mountains.
I always find it amazing that in the middle of this cosmic outpouring of love, we see the Creator himself, personally bending down, picking up the clay of the earth in his hands and shaping it and forming it with love and then breathing his very own life into it.
Our heavenly Father does this to reveal how precious we are, to show us that every human life is sacred and important to him.
This is the beautiful truth of our Catholic faith, the beautiful truth of the Gospel. We are all God’s children, made out of love and made in his image, each of us like God’s own work of art. With all our glorious differences, each of us is loved and desired by God, and he wants all of his children to do beautiful things with our lives.
This is the reason for all of the commandments, all of the Church’s teachings. They are given to ensure that we flourish and live in the Truth, to ensure that we find the happiness and love that our Father created us for.
In our Gospel, the devil whispers in Jesus’ ear, challenging him to prove that he is the Son of God. Three times he tempts Jesus, and three times Jesus responds with a quotation from the Word of God.
Jesus tells us today: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”
This is a beautiful reminder that Jesus alone is our model, that his Word should be the foundation for our lives and our ministries.
Religious education is a noble vocation, it’s a calling from God. You know that. That’s why you come here, year after year.
There is a fire that burns in your hearts, Christ’s love urges you on. And the Church needs you. My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus needs you.
Together, as one Church, we are called to continue the beautiful mission of salvation, leading the people of our times — and especially our young people — to God, to the Lord who speaks to us in the Sacred Scriptures.
Today more than ever we need teachers and catechists who can bring people to a new encounter with the living God who reveals himself to us in Jesus Christ.
We live in a time of confusion, and there is a great longing out there for people to know the truth about their lives. We need to bring them that truth that we find, beginning in those first pages of Genesis — the truth that God loves us and that he has a beautiful plan for our lives.
We know that Jesus alone is the answer, that in him we discover who we are meant to be, and how we are meant to live.
We need to learn once again to live from every Word that proceeds from his mouth! We need to learn again to live from the bread he gives us in the Blessed Sacrament. “Bread and Word! Host and prayer!” as one of the saints said.
It is a beautiful vocation, and it is an extraordinary grace for all of us to reflect on the life and teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ and show that to the people of our time.
And today, we turn to holy Mary, Our Lady of the Angels.
May she help us to know that we are instruments, that her Son is the Teacher. May she help us to say with Jesus: “My teaching is not mine, but His who sent me.”
